Unapologetic

Sorry, boys and girls. But I still like the guy. And I'm not going to qualify this with anything regarding who was at fault for him leaving the Mets. Because I can't fault Jose Reyes for leaving the Mets for a better situation … even if that better situation was a year away.

So when I see Reyes with a trophy after the Dominican Republic rampaged through the 2013 World Baseball Classic, I feel happy for the guy. And I won't apologize for it. There are plenty of people who have gotten trophies that have made me want to vomit. Not Jose Reyes. He busted his ass for the Mets and made us all smile in the process. And yeah, I miss him. And I don't feel like qualifying that with the same old histrionics about whether the Mets were right to let him go and why the Mets were incompetent enough to let it get to the point where the smart move was to let him go. Because seeing him play in this tournament made me wish like hell that he was still wearing a Mets shade of blue.

But like many other Mets debacles, this too shall pass. We have Ruben Tejada, and he's the man we need and the man we deserve. And at a certain point I'll realize that any minute spent thinking about Jose Reyes as a New York Met is a minute not spent by Reyes thinking about New York. Or the Mets. Or Mets fans. But tonight, in the wee hours of the morning, I raise my 24 oz. to him. It's not the World Series, but not only does he have a title, he did it without compromising any of the joy of the game that he's always had. And that's gotta piss off Jimmy Rollins just a little bit. And anything that pisses off Jimmy Rollins is worth raising a glass to.

So here's to you, Jose. Congratulations on the title. And would you tell Fernando to eat that damn plantain already? It's gotta be ripe as hell by now.